


Tidal Waves

by orphan_account



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, hint hint thats the one where mako almost drowns, im sorry i am so sorry, this is set right after season 1 episode 5
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-02
Updated: 2014-08-02
Packaged: 2018-02-11 10:42:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2065053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, a person can break. They can become twisted, and hard, and cruel, and sometimes it isn't anyone's fault. Sometimes, the only thing that can save a shattered heart is a heart that is equally as shattered.</p><p>This is a story of how two people broke, and used each other's pieces to make themselves whole again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tidal Waves

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I'll admit, I cried the whole time I was writing this. And the whole time I was talking about the idea with Suit. There have been a lot of tears in the making of this fic and there will be many more, I swear. I hope you stick with it to find out just how many gallons of tears I'll cry by the end. I promise I'll keep count.
> 
> Anyway, this fic begins right after Season 1 Episode 5, where they all go to that island for training camp and Mako nearly drowns.
> 
> My tumblr is [irloikawa](http://irloikawa.tumblr.com)!!

This was the day that Rin Matsuoka died.

Not literally, of course, but about as close to it as a person can get. There’s a certain kind of hollowness, a dark pit that can settle inside of your chest and feast on all the grief and hurt it finds there. People can become nasty, mean things, or just break altogether. Angry people are one thing, sad people can be made happy, but a broken person is quite another thing. For all intents and purposes, a once happy, thriving person can become a veritable corpse. All it really takes in the end is a single sentence, a single action.

A single stone that wasn’t there before.

Rin took a left, passing through the rusting iron archway that stood solemnly over the entrance to the old graveyard. He stopped and stared up at the twisting metal bars, at the blue and white sky beyond, but he didn’t really need to look at all. The gateway would always be there, the sky would always be there, just like the hundreds of times he had come before. The week he had spent away, training on that island with Samezuka and chasing his father’s dream, would not have brought about any new changes.

Left at the tree, left at the well, right at the third row down, ten stones in. Rin could navigate these walkways with his eyes closed, he had done it before. He had walked through here in the dead of night, burdened with the weight of his dreams, and slept with his head on the little brass plaque bearing his father’s name. _Matsuoka_. Rin sighed and looked back up at the sky, at the top of the iron archway and the little red cardinal that flew shakily through the air to perch atop it. _One day, everyone in Japan will know that name_. The bird looked down at Rin, cocking its feathered head to the left ever so slightly before spreading its wings and taking to the skies once again. Rin watched as it disappeared behind the trees bordering the old, beaten graveyard.

He jogged, because he didn’t particularly want to walk, and because he wanted to see if his body still remembered the way. His eyes were shut tightly, but he counted his footfalls. _Left at the tree, twenty-seven_. Dust was kicked up from the shoes he wore, tickling his nose. _Left at the well, forty-one_. Rin could feel every pound of his sneakers against the weathered dirt path, the way the ground gave the slightest bit before pushing him back up to take another step. _Right at the third row down, fifty-four, fifty-five, fifty-_

Rin’s shoulder collided with something hard. His first instinct - of course, because he wasn’t raised in a fucking _barn_ \- was to jump back and apologize, because whoever he hit must not have seen him jogging. When he finally opened his eyes, though, the only company he had was the breeze that tugged softly at his hair. He looked around for any sign of life, but all he saw was the cardinal returning, perching on a clean white tombstone just in front of Rin. It bent over, knocking its beak against the pillar a few times before looking back at him. Chirping once, it flew away, leaving only the tombstone there.

It was polished, too clean to be there. It looked odd, out of place among the rows and rows of weathered stone, white against gray and beaten black. It was plain, unmarked, and it looked as if no dust had ever met its surface. That was it, it was new. That must have been why Rin ran into it. _How many rows down am I?_ Rin looked over, through the tombstones to where his father lay, before curiosity got the better of him and he turned back to the new gravestone.

Incense lay at the base, nearly burned out, and white flowers surrounded the pillar. _Whoever was buried here must have been well-liked,_ Rin figured. _One of those people that you just gravitate towards_. In his whole life, Rin had only known one person like that, and he had gone and made the stupid decision to fall in love with him. He thought of green eyes and brown hair, of strong shoulders and soft smiles and the taste of sweet lime popsicles in the summer, and he made a mental note to stop by Makoto’s house after seeing his father. _As long as Haru isn’t around._ Rin still hadn’t made peace with Iwatobi, and he didn’t really feel like starting now. If they couldn’t talk to him while they were on the same damn island for that training camp, he couldn’t really be bothered to talk to them now.

The incense was nearly burnt down, so Rin pulled a new stick out of his pocket and lit it. He didn’t know who exactly was buried there, but he figured he would show a little respect, since they were so newly departed. A tightness began to grow in his chest, and he swallowed and willed it away. The wind picked up, and a few of the flowers shifted to reveal cans underneath. _Cans…?_ Rin picked one up and looked at it. The label had no name, only a picture of a fish. _Trout, maybe. Or mackerel_. The tightness in his chest returned, along with a gaping pit that surfaced when Rin noticed the last thing sitting on the base of the tombstone. Directly on top of the plaque that bore the name, obscuring the letters, sat an object that Rin knew all too well. It was about the size of his forearm, a light sky blue cylinder made of twisting metal sitting on top of a black base and adorned with a red and white ribbon. The top of the ornament was a brass figurine, a boy diving. Rin knew this trophy. Rin helped win this trophy.

Suddenly, Rin’s breath came too fast. He grabbed the trophy, furious that anyone would dare steal it from its rightful owner and place it on a grave of someone who didn’t deserve it, couldn’t deserve it, because if they did deserve it then that would mean they were - no, Rin didn’t dare think of that. He stared at his hand, bringing it up to his face and pinching the fleshy skin of his cheek. _This is a dream, this is all a dream, this is just a trophy that looks like the one that Iwatobi has, it can’t be the same one_. Rin didn’t dare look down at the name on the plaque, but he knew he had to. His heart pounded in his throat and in his fingertips as he turned his head and tried to piece together the letters at the base of the tombstone.

His breath stopped. The trophy clattered to the ground, hands gone slack and legs unable to support his own weight.

“M-”

There on the gravestone, etched into brass, were the two words Rin never wanted to read.

Makoto Tachibana.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Surprise, he didn't "nearly" drown this time.
> 
> Stick around for the next chapter, some things get explained and we get to see how Rin deals with all of this.
> 
> (Spoiler, it isn't very well.)
> 
> Again, my tumblr is [irloikawa](http://irloikawa.tumblr.com)


End file.
